Health Sciences In The Media

Joe Gerald, MD, PhD, a professor of public health policy in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health reported that as of Dec. 1, COVID-19 patients occupied 31% of Arizona’s general ward beds.

As clinician shortages continue to plague the hospice space, the University of Arizona Health Sciences is expanding end-of-life medical education through its new Interprofessional End-of-Life Care Training Program. The program focuses on training students to incorporate a multicultural and interdisciplinary approach to end-of-life conversations with patients and their families.

Having diminished antibody levels isn’t all that telling because other immune fighters might jump in to compensate when a virus invades. Even in a worst-case scenario, where protections against infection and mild illness substantially fray, vaccine effectiveness against severe disease probably wouldn’t suffer more than “a small drop,” says Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, an immunologist at the College of Medicine – Tucson.

Three of the winners on the 40 under 40 list have ties to the UArizona Health Sciences: Precious Craig is a first-year pharmacy student in the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy; Leslie V. Farland, ScD, MSc, is an assistant professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health; and Laura Stephens, MD, is director of the Blood Bank at Banner-University Medical Center Tucson and assistant professor at the College of Medicine – Tucson.

The Nov. 30 clinic at the Mariposa Port of Entry was part of a months-long effort to vaccinate Mexican citizens along Arizona’s southern border.

According to health officials, the number of hospitalizations compared to last year at this time have slightly decreased as some hospitals are reaching capacity once again.

Along with new life comes challenges for mothers in Mohave County, including the rural location, level of income and number of OB/GYNs.

A recent study published in the journal Nature Communications found that an infection can strengthen the immune system against that agent as well as new invaders. Senior author on the study was Janko Nikolich-Žugich, MD, PhD, professor and head of the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson’s Department of Immunobiology.

In a lab at New York University, a virologist is growing an engineered version of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus. The “pseudovirus” — which can’t infect humans — will be used to understand how well antibodies produced by the COVID-19 vaccines can fight off the variant. Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, a professor of immunobiology at the College of Medicine – Tucson, is interviewed.

The human body’s immune system weakens over time, making older adults more susceptible to infections and leaving scientists with the puzzling dilemma of how to maintain health across the lifespan.